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Empire of the Self:

Self-Command and Political Speech in Seneca and Petronius
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In The Empire of the Self, Christopher Star studies the question of how political reality affects the concepts of body, soul, and self. Star argues that during the early Roman Empire the establishment of autocracy and the development of a universal ideal of individual autonomy were mutually enhancing phenomena. The Stoic ideal of individual empire or complete self-command is a major theme of Seneca's philosophical works. The problematic consequences of this ideal are explored in Seneca's dramatic and satirical works, as well as in the novel of his contemporary, Petronius. Star examines the rhetorical links between these diverse texts. He also demonstrates a significant point of contact between two writers generally thought to be antagonists—the idea that imperial speech structures reveal the self.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Soul-Shaping Speech
1. Senecan Philosophy and the Psychology of Command
2. Self-Address in Senecan Tragedy
3. Self-Address in the Satyricon
Part II: Soul-Revealing Speech
4. Political Speech in Declementia
5. Soul, Speech, and Politics in the Apocolocyntosisand the Satyricon
6. Writing, Body, and Money
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

""Star has performed a valuable service in presenting a fresh approach to familiar authors which helps the discussion to move beyond some of the established academic truisms of the last few decades, and identifying the common conceptual ground that they share. He offers us a fresh perspective on both Seneca's and Petronius' views of self-fashioning, making a major contribution to several recent areas of interest within classics. Both graduate students and scholars working on Neronian literature or Roman concepts of identity will benefit from reading Star's argument.""

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